Executive Summary

In response to recent economic, political, and social trends that have placed greater emphasis on public-sector accountability and cost-effectiveness, transportation agencies across the country have increasingly embraced performance management and performance-based planning and programming as a way to ensure that transportation resources are spent on projects and strategies that best serve communities' needs.

This white paper describes the common elements of a performance-based transportation planning and programming process, building on work conducted by State departments of transportation (DOT), metropolitan planning organizations (MPO), and transit agencies. The white paper was initiated in response to a National Forum on Performance-based Planning and Programming conducted in September, 2010 in Dallas, TX and has been refined to reflect discussions at a follow up Workshop on Performance-based Planning and Programming held in Chicago, IL in September, 2011.

These two events have included representatives from state DOTs, MPOs, rural planning organizations, and transit agencies. Participants at both events have recognized performance-based planning and programming as a best practice for the transportation industry and desired to more concretely define what is meant by performance-based planning and programming, what action items will best advance its implementation across the industry, and what steps are necessary to overcome the practical challenges to its meaningful implementation.

Key findings of this white paper and the National Workshops include:

Many transportation agencies are conducting performance-based planning and programming and a framework based on the elements common to these efforts may be useful to agencies considering implementing such a process.

Performance-based planning and programming must be integrated into the existing planning process to be successful. Performance-based planning and programming involves data driven analysis, which is the focus of this white paper. But, planning and decision-making must balance a broad range of quantitative and qualitative concerns including public/stakeholder perspectives.

Given the range of data, information, and tools available to transportation agencies, it is important to tailor the approach to work for areas with varying geographies, levels of development, governance structures, and size, as well as across various program or performance areas. These will include using qualitative methods or providing clear visual representations of performance that are clear for stakeholders and/or decision makers to understand.

Performance-based planning and programming should build on successful planning efforts. Existing tools such as state pavement and bridge management systems, transit agency asset management plans, and complementary planning processes such as the Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP), Congestion Management Process (CMP), Transit Development Plan (TDP) and other similar efforts provide a strong foundation for performance-based planning and programming.

Fundamental to a performance-based approach is the recognition that agencies should first identify projects that are consistent with their goals and performance targets, and then determine the appropriate funding source for those projects. Unlike a traditional programming and budgeting process that identifies funding sources first, this approach first identifies the set of projects that best help the agency meet its goals or targets.

The potential benefits from a performance-based planning and programming process include helping to guide resource allocation decisions in a constrained funding environment. However, it is recognized that a performance-based process alone, without sufficient resources, will not drive better performance results over the long term. A performance-based approach can help communicate needs and explain why performance may decline in the future. But implementing a performance-based approach itself may take additional organizational resources or at least a redistribution of existing resources devoted to planning and programming activities.

Table ES.1 presents a framework of elements that have been identified as part of any performance-based planning and programming effort.

Table ES. 1 Performance-based Planning and Programming Elements

Elements

Description

Examples

Strategic Direction (Where do we want to go?)

Goals and objectives

Goals and objectives that capture an agency's strategic direction

Infrastructure condition, safety, mobility, reliability, and other goals established by an agency.

Performance measure

Agreed on measures for goals and objectives.

Percent of bridges in good condition, travel time index, and other measures linked to agency goals.

Long Range Planning (How are we going to get there?)

Identify targets and trends

Establish aspirational targets or preferred trends based on an understanding of a desirable future for each goal area and measure.

Evaluate strategies and define program level system performance expectations, may be qualitative.

Examine impact of varying levels of investment on pavement and, bridge preservation and transit assets.
Examine impact of packages of operations, capacity and other highway or transit investments on corridor travel time and/or reliability.
Examine potential for reduction in crashes, injuries, and fatalities from a package of safety investments.

Programming (What will it take?)

Investment plan

Identify the amount and mix of funding needed to achieve performance goals within individual program areas.

Report on pavement, bridge, transit assets, reliability, safety, and other metrics presented to stakeholders, public and decision makers.

Evaluation

Identify improvements in analytics, process, etc. to improve the planning process.
Evaluating the mix of projects.

Examine actual conditions relative to expected conditions for assets, reliability, safety, and other areas. Identify where tools produced inaccurate estimates or investments and policies were more or less successful than planned.

The white paper introduces performance-based planning and programming, describes its relationship to the planning process and potential goals, and provides an in depth description of the elements of the framework. It includes detailed descriptions of several best practice examples and identifies the common elements of performance-based planning and programming.

While the process and framework described in this white paper is intended to improve decision making for States, MPOs and transit agencies, it is important to recognize that performance-based planning and programming will be impacted by factors such as local politics, funding availability, and changing economic or demographic conditions.

Foreword

Notice

This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Transportation in the interest of information exchange. The U.S. Government assumes no liability for the use of the information contained in this document. This report does not constitute a standard, specification, or regulation.

The U.S. Government does not endorse products or manufacturers. Trademarks or manufacturers’ names may appear in this report only because they are considered essential to the objective of the document.

Quality Assurance Statement

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In response to recent economic, political, and social trends that have placed greater emphasis on public-sector accountability and cost-effectiveness, transportation agencies across the country have increasingly embraced performance management and performance-based planning and programming as a way to ensure that transportation resources are spent on projects and strategies that best serve communities' needs. This white paper describes the common elements of a performance-based transportation planning and programming process, building on work conducted by State departments of transportation (DOT), metropolitan planning organizations (MPO), and transit agencies. The white paper describes current practices in use at several transportation agencies and opportunities to incorporate performance measurement and management techniques into the federally required planning process.